Rail joint shim



Dec. 14, 1937. A. F. FIFIELD 2,101,900

RAIL JOINT SHIM Filed May 3 195a SLM A Arroemws.

Patented Dec. 14, 1937 UNlTED STATES zioistc ATENT ()F'FECE RAIL JOINTSHIM Ohio Application May 3, 1933, Serial No. 669,218

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in rail joint constructions andparticularly to improvements in shims to effect compensation for wear ofthe elements of rail joints.

At the juncture of two rail ends of a railway track, it is customary toprovide a joint construction comprising a pair of rail clamping jointside bars, or so-called fish plates, wedgingly engaging the undersidesof the rail heads and the upper sides of the rail flanges and clamped tothe rails by bolts extending through aligned perforations in thevertical rail webs and the joint bars.

After continued use, due to passage of trains over the track, theengaging surfaces of the rail ends and the joint bars become worn awayand produce a tapered crevice intermediate the upper fishing surfaces ofthe joint bars and the under surfaces of the rail heads, the greatestwear of the rail heads occurring nearest the rail ends. It has beenproposed to compensate for this wear by means of shims. Since the endsof the rails are usually separated, a fillet or fin is left of the jointbar at the ends of the rails which is not worn away as is the case withthe more remote portions of the joint bars; it is considered highlyimportant that a shim of this character should be re-usable afterconsiderable use of the shimmed joint in other joints where a smallercrevice is encountered and for this reason and other reasons it ishighly undesirable that the shims break into two parts during use of thejoint because of movement of the rail ends upon passage of trains overthe track.

Inasmuch as the adjacent rail ends must be slightly separated to allowfor thermal expansion of the rails, the ends of the rails do notactually abut and there is therefore little or no wear of the joint barsintermediate the spaced rail ends, which leaves an upstanding fin on thejoint bar.

Therefore, an important object of the present invention is to so formthe shim as to escape undesirable contact with the fillet or fin of thejoint bar and at the same time to increase the cross-sectional area ofthe shim at the mid part of the joint so that breakage will not be soliable to occur, even though the shim be otherwise weakened as forexample by notching it to prevent undesirable contact with the fin.

Another object of this invention is to provide a joint constructioncomprising an improved shim which may be used between the rail heads atthe ends of the rails and the joint side bar to compensate for wearwhich has occurred thereat.

Another object is to provide an improved shim of the type referred to soconstructed that the above mentioned fin may not interfere with the fitof the shim between the joint bars and the rails.

Another object is to provide an improved shim of the type referred tohaving means for suitably positioning it in wear compensating positionand to maintain it with full operative effect in such position.

Another object is to provide a shim of the type referred to soconstructed that liability to breakage thereof, when subjected to thestrains and shocks of use in Wear compensating position in a rail joint,will be minimized.

Another object is to provide a sturdy one-piece shim of the typereferred to, so constructed as to compensate for the unequal or varyingamounts of wear occurring at points adjacent the ends of both rails of ajoint, and which may be readily installed and later removed as a singleunit, for j use in another joint.

'Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which myinvention 'appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a rail joint construction embodyingmy invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken from the plane 2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken from plane 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to a part of Fig. 3 drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 5 is a perspective View illustrating a. shim element which I mayemploy;

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. l with a joint side bar of the railjoint of Fig. l omitted and illustrating the shim element of Fig. 5 inits position of use;

Fig. 7 is a view illustrating a blank from which the shim element ofFigs. 5 and 6 may be made by bending the blank;

Fig. 8 is a View illustrating a modified form of shim element which Imay employ;

Fig. 9 is an elevational View of a joint side bar element of Fig. l,drawn in reduced scale and illustrating wear which may occur thereon andwhich may be compensated for by the shims embodying my invention andillustrated in the other figures.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1, I have shown at l and 2 the adjacentends of a pair of rails, at 3 and 4 (see also Figs. 2 and 3) a pair ofrail joint side bars, and at 55 and 6-6 bolts prothe jected throughaligned perforations in the web of the rail 1 and in the bars 3 and 4for drawing the bars into wedging engagement with the undersides of therail heads and the upper sides of the rail flanges to provide the railjoint.

The rail joint thus illustrated and described is the conventional railjoint. As is well known, in use the shocks occurring at the ends of therails by the passage of traffic thereover causes wear to occur on theundersides of the rail heads, but particularly upon the upper sides orupper edges of the bars 3 and 4. The wear which may thus be occasionedis clearly illustrated in Fig. 9. The broken line 1 illustrates the:original contour of the bar and the solid line 8 a worn contour thereof,which as will be seen, is greatest in intermediate portions of the barand least at the ends thereof.

In most cases the extreme ends of the rails I and 2 are not in perfectfitting contact and therefore when the wear occurs upon the bar, a smallfin 9 of substantially unworn portions of the bar is left, upstanding onthe intermediate portion of the bar.

One form of shim embodying my invention by which the wear just describedmay be compensated for is illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. Thisshim maybe made from a flat blank as illustrated in Fig. 7, the blank comprisinga longitudinally elongated body portion ill, a downwardly extendingintermediately disposed lug II and an upwardly open intermediatelydisposed notch 12. The shim formed from the blank I, as illustrated inFigs. 5 and 6, is longitudinally bent to render the body portiongenerally angular in cross-section and providing an upper flange l3 anda vertical flange or apron l4.

The flanges i3 and M are generally of the same width and notch I2 is ofsuch depth as to extend into the flange l s as clearly shown in Fig. 6.The flanges l3 and id are tapered in thickness proceeding from anintermediate part of the shim outwardly toward each end thereof asclearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6. I

A pair of shims constructed as just described and which may be referredto generally by the reference character I6, is placed against the railends and between the rails'a-nd the bars 3 and 4 as clearly illustratedin the drawing, particularly Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive and as indicated inFig. 6. The notch i2 provides a clearance space into which the fin 9 mayproject. When the bolts have been put in place and the nuts thereofdrawn up tight, the tapering flanges of the shim will fit in theworn-away portions of the rails but particularly of the bars 3 and 4.'The worn bar and rails may thus be continued in use.

The longitudinal extent of the lug H, forming in effect a portion of theflange I4, is such as to substantially fit between the two innermost adjacent bolts fi-5 and thus positions the shim longitudinally wheninstalling it and thereafter prevent its displacement longitudinally ifit should tend to creep in use.

Any weakening of the shim by the notch I2 is compensated for by the lugH and thus tendency of the shim to crystallize and crack in itsintermediate portion when inuse is prevented. The lug H, as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 7 makes the width of the shim blank approximatelythe same at its middle portion where the notch 12 occurs, as it is inthe laterally extending wings, and preferably the lug ll extendsoppositely to the notch l2 a greater distance than the distancerepresented by the width of the blank at laterally remote portions ofthe shim, so that notwithstanding the notch l2, the shim is stronger atthe notched middle portion than it is in portions laterally remote fromthe notch. This is particularly important, since the rails and jointside bars during passage of trains over the track may be moved upwardlyand downwardly with considerable force, and it is exceedingly importantthat the vertically disposed portion of the shim be made much wider atthe middle portion of the shim than elsewhere, so as to withstand thecomponent of resulting stress tending to shear or break the shim intotwo parts.

It is a very valuable characteristic of shims of this type that once putin track they do not break into two parts, since otherwise the tworesultant halves may, after the joint has become worn slightly or thebolts become slightly loose, tend to move longitudnally inwardly towardsand past the center of the joint and become overlapped and so wedged asto spread the joint bars from'the rails, with the result that a verypoor joint soon results.

Also, even though the resultant shim halves have not overlapped and forthis reason gives good service in the joint where the shim is firstinstalled, the fracture may be of such a nature as to ruin the shimhalves for further service in other joints after further wear in thejoint has caused the wear crevice in the joint to become too Wide to befilled by the compensating portion of the shim. By virtue of my presentinvention whereby liability to fracture of the unitary shim 'into twoparts is so minimized as to make such an occurrence unusual, wheneverthe shim is insufficiently thick in its wear compensating portions tofill the crevice in the joint occasioned by wear, it it may be removedfor use in other joints where the wear is not so excessive and a newthicker shim substituted therefor.

It is not essential that the notch l2 shallextend into the flange I4. Ifdesired it may terminate at the bend or in the angle between the twoflanges 13 and l4. 7

The shim l6 of Figs. 1, 5 and 6 may be considered as a relatively longshim and is preferably made of relatively thick metal, for example A,thick and may be employed where the wear is correspondingly great. Incases where there is less wear, the shim illustrated generally at IT inFig. 8 may be employed. This shim is made generally of the same form asthe shim {6 above described but is shorter longitudinally and may bemade from thinner sheet metal, and in general it'is preferably toprovide the generally vertical flange [8 of uniform thickness throughoutand to taper the thickness of the other flange, !9, toward its ends, asclearly illustrated in Fig. 8. Otherwise the shim of Fig. 8 may be thesame as that of Fig. 5. r 7 Having thus described my invention inspecific embodiments, I am aware that numerous and extensive departuresmay be made'therefrom but without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

I claim: 7

1. A wear compensating means for rail end joints of the type comprisinga pair of joint side bars and bolts projected through the bars and theintermediately disposed rail Web, comprising a metallic shim adapted tobe disposed between the bar' and the rail being of angular cross-sectiontapering in thickness toward both ends from an intermediate portion andhaving an intermediate joint fin receiving notch, said notchsubstantially bisecting the generally horizontally ex- 75 tending shimportion, and a lateral extension extending from the side opposite thenotch, the extension being sufiiciently narrow to extend between a pairof rail joint bolts and of sufli'cient length and thickness tosufficiently compensate for the notch to prevent the concentration ofbending stresses at the notch and a consequent tendency of the shim tobreak at its intermediate portion.

2. A Wear compensating means for rail end joints of the type comprisinga pair of joint side bars and bolts projected through the bars and theintermediately disposed rail web, comprising a metallic shim adapted tobe disposed between a bar and the rail, the shim being of angularcross-section tapering in thickness toward both ends from anintermediate portion, one flange having therein an intermediate cut-awayportion to provide clearance for a projection on the joint side bar andthe other flange having an intermediate portion of increased width, theintermediate portion extending longitudinally of the joint on both sidesof its intermediate portion toprovide for engagement with the rail jointbolts upon longitudinal shifting movements of the shim in the joint torestrain such movements, the intermediate extending portion being ofsuch length and thickness as tocompensate for the cut-away portion andto provide the shim at its intermediate portion with resistance tobending at least as great as in portions on each side of the cutawayportion.

3. An angle section wear compensating means substantially as set forthin claim 2 characterized by having one flange adapted to be disposedbetween the web of the rail and a joint bar and thicker than the otherflange in portions disposed the same distance longitudinally from themedial portion of the shim as corresponding portions of the said oneflange.

4. A wear compensating means substantially as set forth in claim 2characterized by having the flange adapted to be disposed between theweb of the rail and the joint bar of substantially the same thicknessthroughout its length.

ALBERT FRANK FIFIELD.

